


Almost an adult now

by SugarPlumStan



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Anger, Growing Up, He's an adult now, Hurt Peter Parker, I'm Bad At Tagging, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker's growing up, Sassy Peter Parker, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, a little fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-11
Updated: 2020-08-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:34:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25840687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SugarPlumStan/pseuds/SugarPlumStan
Summary: Peter's hurt on patrol and Tony's over reacting and smothering him.  A conversation happens that neither Peter nor Tony are ready for, but has to happen eventually.
Relationships: Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Comments: 3
Kudos: 65





	Almost an adult now

_Fuck off already!_ Peter thought as Tony sped through his normal lecture. The machines around them both beeped in their natural steady pace as they read Peter’s heartbeat, and the Med bay held its usual reassuring scents of sterile medicine and blood. Peter was at a boiling point. He didn’t need to be here. He didn’t need the doctor’s attentions, he didn’t need the medicine Tony insisted on shoving on him. He didn’t need the ministrations of the medical team nor the work of the surgeons. Peter’s healing abilities worked better than all of that. Sure, it maybe took a night or two to heal it all over, but it did heal over. Peter knew it would all heal over regardless of the attention he gave his wounds or not. This was pure over reaction on Tony’s part, and Peter was sick of being babied. 

“ENOUGH!” Peter yelled, finally tipping over into his rage. He ripped the needle out of his arm and the sensor off his chest. This was the first time he’d ever yelled at Tony, and the older man was beyond shocked into silence. He was only worried about the young man, and despite him almost being an adult he still felt it was his duty to keep the boy safe.

Maybe that was the problem though. Peter wasn’t a boy, was he? He’d been doing this long enough to know, long enough to be sure of himself, and Tony maybe wasn’t as needed as he wanted to be. It hurt more than Tony wanted to admit.

“I don’t need the lecture. It was a knife! And it wasn’t even a stab wound, Mr. Stark. He just grazed me!”

“Yeah, he grazed your neck, Pete! You could have bled out!”

“But I didn’t, did I?”

And that was the problem. Tony never seemed to take Peter’s healing factor into account with his anxiety. He was Spider-Man, damnit! Spider-Man was far stronger than he, or any of the other Avengers, gave him credit for. Peter was sick of being treated like the baby. He sprang out of the hospital bed and glared at his mentor in defiance. 

“I healed half an hour ago, but you never stopped to check. You never trust me to take care of myself with this kind of thing. I’m not a child anymore! I can handle a graze, Mr. Stark. Heck, I could have been back on the streets in an hour if you’d just let me handle it myself!”

“What if you hadn’t though? What if you’d been hurt worse?” Tony knew he was only digging himself deeper. The conversations he’d had with Pepper lately were supposed to help him begin to let go of this protective hold he had over the boy, but Tony couldn’t help himself. He couldn’t stand seeing his kid bleed. It hurt something deep inside that he still couldn’t understand, but he couldn’t stop himself.

“But I wasn’t!” Peter clenched his hands into fists and the tension from it radiated through his whole body. “Why can’t you trust me to handle myself? You trust everyone else to deal with this kind of thing. None of them can heal like I can! Stop treating me like a kid!”

The words had come out loud and shouting. Peter hadn’t meant to, but he was just so frustrated. He loved Tony like a father. He did, he really did. But fathers had to let their kids grow up at some point, didn’t they? Peter had to ‘spread his wings and fly from the nest’ at some point. Maybe he just needed to stop coming back to the tower every time he got hurt. Would that fix it? No it wouldn’t. The only other place he had to go was home to May. She would tell Tony in a second, and the two of them would gang up on him and it would be worse than ever. Peter needed his own place. He’d been needing it recently anyway, and this just cemented that. 

Silence spread between the two of them. It stretched for a long time as they stared at each other before it finally snapped. 

“I’m just worried about you, kid.”

“I’m not a kid!” Tears sprang unwilling to Peter’s eyes as he glared at his mentor. “When are you going to stop treating me like one? I’ve been doing this almost as long as some of the other Avengers. Stop babying me!”

Tony couldn’t. He wouldn’t. He should, but…

“Peter…”

“Just stop, Tony.” The one time he stopped with the Mister, and Tony wasn’t happy. “I can’t stand it anymore. I’m not fragile. I took on Captain America for fuck’s sake!” Neither of them cared he was cursing. Peter flung his hands out to emphasize his point. It looked far too familiar to Tony, and he couldn’t handle it. “I can handle a stab or a bullet.”

They both stared at each other. Peter kept hoping Tony would say something, but the man just stared at him in shock. The spiderling shook his head in disappointment.

“I’m sorry. I know you care Sir, but I can handle myself more than you think. I’m not weak. You keep acting like I’m going to fall apart every time I get hurt. I’m stronger than you know! I’m stronger than you think and its time you recognize that. I deserve to be treated like a superhero like everyone else instead of the kid you think I am.”

That was the crux of the problem. To Tony, Peter was his kid. His mentee and the boy he’d first met in that apartment when he’d asked for his help. (sure, Peter wouldn’t say He’d asked for his help, but that’s what Tony had done in his own peculiar way.) Peter was still the boy he needed to protect, the one he wanted to take care of. When had Tony Stark become a father? Was this really what he’d wanted out of this? A second of thought and Tony couldn’t imagine anything else. Peter was his kid in everything but DNA, and he’d protect him until some damned alien came and killed him. Or one of his suits. Probably one of his suits.

Or Pepper.

“Pete. Kid, I know you’re a superhero. Shit, you’re better than anyone here. I just…”

“Just what, Mr. Stark?” Back to the niceties, eh? That was a good sign. 

“I just…” Tony paused as he searched himself for the words. Peter grew frustrated.

“Just what?!”

“I just can’t handle seeing you hurt, ok? Everyone else isn’t my kid. You are.” Screw the right words. Maybe the truth was what he should be giving. If anyone had earned and deserved his truth, it was Peter. “I need you to be ok. I need you to be alright and I can’t handle you not being… alright.”

Words are hard. Stop judging!

“You and Pepper are the best things to ever happen to me. I’ve got Pepper figured out. She’s easy compared to you, kid. And I know, I know that word annoys you.” Tony held his hands up in surrender to the anger on Peter’s face. 

“You’re always gonna be my kid, alright? I just have to do whatever I can to make sure you’re safe. Its my thing.” Tony shrugged and the slightest smile tugged at Peter’s lips. “I didn’t get to smother you when you were younger. Can you blame me for doing my best to catch up on that?”

Now Peter was fully grinning. Tony felt all the anxiety and fear drain from his body, and he nearly fell to the floor in relief. 

“Yeah I guess I get it Mr. Stark. But you gotta let me grow up sometime. I can’t be what Spider-Man was meant to be unless you do.”

“Damnit, we were so close to Tony. Can we go back to that? Do I have to make you angry with me to get Tony out of you? I can ask Bruce for tips if I need to keep you angry if that’s what it takes!”

“Sorry Mr. Stark! No can do!” Tony’s signature smirk grew on Peter’s lips, and Tony nearly cried with pride. “He’s already taught me how to avoid that!”


End file.
